Personal Pronouns

Chris:	Jessica, do you know where the expression “flying saucer” comes from?
Jessica:	Yes, it’s another term for UFO, an unidentified flying object. It’s a spacecraft that aliens from other worlds use to come to visit us... if you believe that sort of thing.
Chris:	Well, that’s the science fiction side of it. A UFO is actually just an object people see in the sky that they cannot explain. There is usually a perfectly good explanation for most of them. But what I meant was: do you know when that term was first used?
Jessica:	I imagine it must be very old. In the Middle Ages, it was heresy, because humankind was the center of the universe. But I’m sure people have always looked at the stars and have asked themselves, “are we alone? “Is it just us in the universe?”
Chris:	Actually, it’s a surprisingly recent term. The phrase “flying saucer” originally referred to a meteorite that crashed in the U.S. in 1930. By 1947, it was widely used by American newspapers. That year, an American aviator named Kenneth Arnold claimed to have seen 9 flying saucers! That was the first official UFO sighting.
Jessica:	1947? Was that part of the famous Roswell incident?
Chris:	What do you know about the Roswell incident, Jessica?
Jessica:	Well, I know that it has spawned some of the biggest conspiracy theories in American history. In 1980, two authors named Charles Berlitz and William Moore published a best-selling book about the incident. It stated that an alien spacecraft had crashed on a ranch close to Roswell in 1947, that alien bodies had been recovered, and that the U.S. government is still lying about them to this day.
Chris:	I’ve read it! They interviewed a lot of eyewitnesses.
Jessica:	But the truth is, the UFO that crashed was just a weather balloon.
Chris:	No, it wasn’t.
Jessica:	Are you saying the whole thing was a... cover-up?
Chris:	Indeed, it was.
Jessica:	Are you telling me that you believe we were actually visited by aliens?
Chris:	No, of course not. Here’s what happened: In 1947, an officer at the Army Airfield in Roswell issued a statement that they had recovered a flying saucer. Then, the Air Force held a press conference, stating that it was just a weather balloon. They showed photos of the debris to the public and the story died.
Jessica:	So, if it wasn’t a weather balloon, and it wasn’t an alien spacecraft… what was it?
Chris:	In 1996, the Air Force finally told the truth. The “UFO” was a balloon, but it wasn’t watching the weather. It was part of the top-secret Project Mogul, which was supposed to detect Soviet nuclear tests.
Jessica:	What about the eyewitnesses who saw aliens being transported away?
Chris:	That was all just a cock and bull story.
Jessica:	Hundreds of books and movies have been written and produced about this incident. There was even video footage of an alien autopsy!
Chris:	That has been debunked, too! You know, people love a good conspiracy theory.
Jessica:	That I can believe. When aliens are involved, the human imagination knows no bounds.

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns refer to a person or group of people. Personal pronouns come in two forms: subject pronouns and object pronouns.

I. Subject Pronouns

Subject pronouns are used when replacing the subject of the sentence. When using a personal pronoun to talk about a person, animal, place, or object that is the subject of a sentence, use: I, we, you, he, she, it, they.

I am going to bring coffee to work tomorrow. ‘I’ is used as it is the subject of the sentence. Janet is going to babysit tonight. She will be over at 8. ‘She’ is used as it is the subject of the sentence.

II. Object Pronouns

Object pronouns are used when replacing the object of the sentence. When using a personal pronoun to talk about a person, animal, place, or object that is the object of a sentence, use: me, us, you, him, her, it, them.

Could you bring me some coffee? ‘Me’ is used as it is the object of the sentence. Janet is babysitting tonight. You’ll be able to see her at 8. ‘Her’ is used as it is the object of the sentence.

A common mistake even native speakers make with pronouns is ‘and I.’ The misconception is that it ‘and I’ is always grammatically correct and ‘and me’ is always incorrect. This is not true. “And I’ is used when it is the subject of the sentence and ‘and me’ is used when it is the object of the sentence.

My brother and I are going over to Griffin’s house.✔ Correct ‘My brother and I’ is used as it’s the subject of the sentence. Griffin is coming over to record a podcast with my brother and me. ✔ Correct ‘My brother and me’ is used as it’s the object of the sentence.

Personal Pronouns

Fill in the blanks with the correct personal pronoun.

Personal Pronouns

Type the correct form of the personal pronoun listed in the blank.